Matt Hardeman and Makensy Manbeck are experiencing the power of love outside the Big Brother house.
Less than four months after season 26 wrapped, two of the show’s former contestants have been able to continue their love story away from any cameras.
“Matt’s in Atlanta and I am moving to Atlanta,” Makensy, 22, exclusively shared with Us Weekly on Monday, January 27. “I’m so, so excited. A lot of people are like, ‘Why didn’t you drag him to Texas?’ I’m like, ‘Well guys, I really like Atlanta.’ I actually grew up here for 10 years so I really like it here. I love the community that he’s built here and I think it’s just time for me to have a little change and I want to be close to him.”
It’s a big step for the pair who weren’t sure their connection would last after nearly three months apart.
Although Big Brother follows a basic formula from year to year, fans know to expect the unexpected when it comes to production twists. While some twists have jeopardized player’s games — see season 8’s “America’s Player,” Eric Stein — other houseguests have used the unforeseen circumstances to their advantage. Jun Song, for example, pretended to hate […]
Inside the Big Brother house, Makensy said Matt, 27, “made all the moves” before his eviction on Day 10. With Makensy making it to the finals, the pair went nearly 80 days without any communication.
“Out of the house, I would say I didn’t know where we were going to be at,” Matt confessed to Us. “I also didn’t know to what extent and readiness Makensy was going to be after an experience like that.”
Makensy Manbeck and Matt Hardeman. Courtesy of Makensy Jo Manbeck/Instagram
After the season finale aired in October 2024, Matt — who is set to launch his “Figuring it Out” podcast in March — and Makensy quickly started talking for hours and hours. They continued to bond over their shared faith and decided to turn their friendship into something more.
“I think that’s one of my favorite things about Matt is that he has such a love for the Lord and he just uses that and instills it in himself,” Makensy shared. “I think a lot of those qualities show throughout our relationship. The number one is love.”
While the couple initially wanted to keep their relationship private, they decided to go public before attending a Big Brother charity event.
After going Instagram official on December 4, 2024, the two were overwhelmed by the positive reaction from fans.
“We wanted to make sure that from the moment we connected post-finale to December 4 that we navigated something authentically and as genuine as possible with one another,” Matt explained. “We made sure that we were concrete in our feelings for one another before we brought thousands of other people into that.”
The self-proclaimed homebodies love staying in for date nights and watching The Traitors or Narcos. They are also open to competing on The Amazing Race with Matt adding that he’d love to try his luck on The Challenge or Survivor.
While they didn’t take home the top prize of $750,000, both Matt and Makensy are grateful Big Brother brought them together in a unique way.
They also can’t believe they join several other successful relationships created through the CBS reality show.
“It’s crazy to think that we walked in there with an idea of thinking you’re going to win this game show,” Makensy said. “In reality, we walked out winning, basically. What is that on Love Island? We got a match!”
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